Obama condemns synagogue attack

US President Barack Obama has condemned Tuesday's attack on a synagogue in Jerusalem. Two men armed with a gun and meat cleavers killed four people, including three Americans.

Obama also called on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to lower tensions in Jerusalem and seek peace. The US president identified the three Israeli-Americans who died as Aryeh Kupinsky, Cary William Levine and Mosheh Twersky.

"Tragically, this is not the first loss of lives that we have seen in recent months," Obama said at the White House on Tuesday. "Too many Israelis have died, too many Palestinians have died." Obama added that "obviously, we condemn in the strongest terms this attack" and said that US Secretary of State John Kerry had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by telephone.

On Tuesday, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told the Associated Press news agency that officers had rushed to the scene after receiving emergency phone calls reporting the attack. In addition to the four people killed, eight people were injured, including two police officers, with one reported to be in critical condition.

'This sensitive moment'

Tuesday's attack began shortly before 7 a.m. (0500 UTC), when the assailants burst into the Jewish seminary in Har Nof. Police exchanged gunfire with the attackers, killing them.

Israeli police have described the attack as a terrorist act and identified the assailants as two cousins from East Jerusalem. In addition to the comments Obama made to the press, the White House has also issued a statement from the president.

"At this sensitive moment in Jerusalem, it is all the more important for Israeli and Palestinian leaders and ordinary citizens to work cooperatively together to lower tensions, reject violence and seek a path forward towards peace," Obama said. "The thoughts and prayers of the American people are with the victims and families of all those who were killed and injured in this horrific attack and in other recent violence," he added.

The armed wing of the militant group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine released a statement saying the two cousins were members but not whether they had been instructed to carry out the attack. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to "respond harshly," describing the attack as the "cruel murder of Jews who came to pray and were killed by despicable murderers." Netanyahu blamed the attack on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

In recent weeks, Israel has blocked access to a Muslim holy site and refused to rule out expanding settlements in Palestinian neighborhoods. Last week, an unknown assailant threw a petrol bomb at a synagogue in Jerusalem after suspected settlers torched a mosque in the West Bank.

mkg/bw (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)